Edward snydek



geiten-giants atent @fitta Letters Patent No. 79,784, dated July 7, 1868.

IMPROVED MACHINE ron Poussins SLATE, an.

@te rlgehnh maar tu is time. te'tters glateutanh mating gmt n f its sans.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, EDWARD SNYDER, of Slatington, iii-the c ounty of Lehigh, and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a certain-new and improved Machine forDx-,essing or Polishing Slates` and their Frames; and `I do hereby declare that the following is a full andexact description thereof.' l i I will first describe whatl consider the best means of carrying out my invention, and will afterwards designate the points which I believe to be new therein. l

The accompanyingdrawings form "a, part ofthi's specification.

' Figure 1 is a side elevation of my machine, and i l .Figure 2 is a cross-section thereof. r v

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.

A A, Ste., is a rigid framework', which maybe of hard wood. A The sletes, with or without their frames, are introduced into the machine through a narrow opening at the top, indicated by a. It is intended that the slates shall be severally passed through the machine before'framing, and thus -reduced to a. proper surface, and that they shall afterwards be passed through the machine again after being properly enclosed in their wooden frames. The rst treatment smo-oths the slate itself, the second 'smooths the frames, and does, not' touch .the slates.

BC D E are polishing-wheels, mounted on shafts, supported in bearings 'onY the1framing. Opposite Seach of these are mounted corresponding `wh'eels' c d e. A system of belting is provided, which causes all ofthel'- wheels, B C D E, to turn together, and all of thew-heels be cle to turn together. Motion is communicated to these several systems 3cm pulleys on the shaft F.` 'The band G communicates motion from the shaft Eto' the system of wheels B C D E,.aud the band H communicates motion from the sanie shaft F-to the system dede. .I

The band G being crossed, and the band H being open or uncrossed, it follows that the wheels B C D E turn in the opposite direction from the wheels b c di e. There are thus two systems of polishing-wheels, mounted opposite to 'each other, the polishing-surfaces being on'the -parallelV plane facesof the wheels, and each wheel turning with anequal velocity to its mate, and in the opposite directinf As the slates,or the slates with their frames, are fed down through the hole e', theyare successively treated, first bythe pair of polishing-wheels B b,

Vwhich should be coarse and adapted to removey the material rapidly, thenb'y the 'finer wheels O c, then by thestill finer wheels Dd, and ultimately bythe wheels' Ee, which may be mereibrushes lof velvet or analogous material, adapted to remove .the dust from the surfaces. "In being suhjectedft'o' the action of each pair of wheels, the slate is impelledito turn around in` one vdirection by the action of one wheel,fand to turn around in the opposite direction by tho action of the other. It follows,l from 'the equal and opposite vclociticsot the surfaces, that there is little tendency in the slates to turn in either direction, and they-ordinarily pass slowly down through the series of wheels without Vbeing violently disturbed, 1 Tho parallel bars Al A2 are 'mounted close to the peripherics of these wheels, as represented, which preventthe-slates from turninga-round or getting much out of place. I i

The polishing-wheels maybe made of wood, faed with emcry, secured by glue, or they may be made of iron, faced with stone,4 or they may be made of iron or other unyielding material, acting either directly or by the agency ot' a burr-stone, sand-stoner metallic cutters, clothe. suitable abrasive or polishing-material, fixed thereon in any convenient manner. One desirable mode of construction would be to makethe substance of the wheels of iron, and'to face thorn with hard wood, securely bolted thereon by screws in the obvious manner, the

wood surface being better adapted to hold somekinds of polishing than the iron. I and .I are rollers, having a .slow rotary motion,fr'eccivcd through the belt z', as represented, and 'carrying an endless apron, K, which receives the slates as theyare delivered from the polishing-whecls, and conveys them carefully out from the end of the machine. Y

As the slatesA are successively delivered by the belt K, they are taken by an attendant and placed on the table, L, and slid slowly`forwnrd thereon, resting, in the mean time, against the upright support I, In being thus moved forward, the lower edge is dressed bythe grooved wheel M, and thus adapted to match inV the slateframe, ata later stage, very perfectly. The slatc'is turned and subjected to this treatment until all the four edges are thus finished, and it is then laid aside to be framed, and, after framing in any approved manner, it is againpassed through the same machine, or another one ofsimilar construction, to smooth the frame. It may be desirable, in some cases, to employ a vdifferent polishing-material for the frames fromthat employed in smoothing the stony surface of the slates themselves. l

I adapt the machine to treat dierent thicknesses of slates and of slate-frames, 8vo., by allowing one Set of the polishing-wheels to-yield by the action (pf-springs. This is the set b c d e. The other series of'wheels,

B C D E, is forbidden to move axially to any great extent, hut the wheels bede may move axially as required ;A

that is to say, they may increase theirdistances from thev opposing s'et, according to the thickness of the slate,

or of other articles which 4may be introduced td be polished. The springs are represented by R R. R, which` have a contractile force, and are attached at one end to the framing A, and at the otherA end to the upright bar S, which forms a bearing for the shafts of the several ivhels b cd c. It will be observed that thebar S is free to move to any extent required in ordinary practice, and thus the polishing-wheels may adapt themselves to every thickness introduced at the top,A automatically opening and automatically closing up again after the thick object has passed. I

Having new fully described my invention, what I claim as .new therein, and de sire to secure byIietters Patent, is as follows:

V1. I claimthe smoothing-machinel herein described, having two or more pairs ofpolishing-vthcels, revolved in opposite directions, and mounted one above-the other, so that the slates may feed through` the series-.by gravity, allsubstantiallyasand for the purposes herein set forth. v i Y 2. I claim, in such machine, automatically increasing and diminishing the distances apart o'- the polishingsurfaces, so thatfthe 'machine is self-adjusting for each thickness of slates, substantially as and for thepurposes herein set forth.

iEDWARD SNYDER.

Witnesses: v

J oHN W. NEWHART, HENRY KuNrz'. 

